Two Girls on Broadway

Lana Turner gets to show off her dance skills with George Murphy and Joan Blondell in 1940's "Two Girls on Broadway." Mostly lighthearted fun as George Murphy plays dancer Eddie Kerns, who resorts to trickery to catch his big break in New York and smoothtalks his producers into bringing over his fiance (Joan Blondell) and her kid sister (Turner), who are also dancers. Turner plays the fresh faced ingenue who attracts attention for her looks and talent while Blondell has to face the harsh realities of show business when you are past your prime. Murphy plays the aw shucks hoofer torn between Blondell and Turner (guess who he wants the most? Gee I wonder?) Blondell gets a chance to play more than the usual wise-cracking sidekick. Turner shows she wasn't just a pretty face back then and has some real talent. Look for a cute scene where she comes home drunk late at night and tries to keep her sister from waking up. The movie runs a tight 73 minutes, so enjoy as much as you can before it's over.

Joan Blondell and Lana Turner co-star with future US Senator George Murphy in Two Girls On Broadway. The three are from Rome City, Nebraska and Murphy is in New York to try and hit it big again as he's been somewhat at liberty since vaudeville declined. The women who are sisters operate a dance studio in Nebraska and Blondell was once Murphy's dance partner.

Murphy pulls off quite a con game but gets a big break with an appearance Richard Lane's nightclub and he parlays it for Blondell and Turner to come east. Now it's Turner who is Murphy's partner and Blondell gets work as a cigarette girl.

It's all looking good, but there's a Broadway wolf in the picture. Kent Taylor is a Tommy Manville type who's already been to the altar 8 times. He zeroes in on Turner who goes along because while she likes Murphy she doesn't want to hurt her sister. It all gets straightened out in the end as it always does.

I think a lot of you will recognize some sets from The Great Ziegfeld which makes it look like this film is more expensive and lush than it is. Wallace Ford has an interesting role as a Broadway Winchell like columnist which would be true to life since Winchell was a performer before he took up journalism. He knew Blondell and Murphy from vaudeville days.

Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed and Roger Edens wrote My Wonderful One Let's Dance as part of the score and if it sounds familiar you're thinking of Cole Porter's Riding High. Porter really could have sued over that one.

Two Girls On Broadway showcases its star's talents well. Murphy was quite a hoofer before he went into Republican politics.

I never realized what a fabulous dancer Lana Turner was until I saw this movie. She was only 19 years old and gorgeous. What a pleasure to watch her dance with George Murphy. The story line was typical for its day but the dancing was really special. I never tire of watching Fred and Ginger but Lana Turner in this movie was just as terrific. I always thought of Lana as a so-so actress who tended to over act. She should have done more dancing and less of the Maddam X and Peyton Place roles. I had a new appreciation for her after seeing this movie and her wonderful dancing. Too bad the "Academy" doesn't give an "Oscar" for dancing.

It's a much better film than the one it was remaking, although perhaps too streamlined. The core trio of Lana Turner, Joan Blondell, and George Murphy was a definite improvement over Bessie Love and whoever the other two actors were. I don't quite know what LIFE Magazine meant by calling Turner a "glamour-plus girl," but it was clear, even in her feature film debut, that she had more going for her than looks. George Murphy was fine. The emotional core of the story, though, is Joan Blondell and she showed quite a bit of depth in what could have been a thankless supporting role. By this point in her career, she was beginning to settle into more matronly parts, but it really seemed like she gave it her all. Overall, I found this to be quite good, although a little more music wouldn't have hurt.

The revelation here is Lana Turner's dancing ability. Though she was known privately to be an excellent nightclub and ballroom dancer, Miss Turner rarely got the opportunity to demonstrate this ability on film.

So, viewers take notice! Here, MGM were clearly still trying to determine in what direction they would develop the still young starlet, and were, therefore, consigning her to everything from Andy Hardy to Doctor Kildaire.

In "Two Girls on Broadway," however, she is given an excellent opportunity to display her native rhythm and ability to shift tempo in the lavish production number, "My Wonderful One, Let's Dance." This number, is conceived and filmed, as a sort of hybrid between a Busby Berkely style extravaganza and the sort of routines Hermes Pan was designing for Astaire and Rogers at RKO.

Thus, the number opens with George Murphy and Miss Turner depicted as bar patrons (with full chorus) before a curtain of black lame wherein Mr. Murphy croons the number to Miss Turner. Then the camera, (on a boom) pulls backward in a remarkable crane shot to reveal an enormous stage, and a rotating set equipped with steps, columns, enclosures and sliding walls.

From this point on, Murphy and Turner execute a fast stepping variety of moods and attitudes, including lifts, spins, soft shoe, and ending with an electrifying series of conjoined pirouettes that concludes with Murphy both lifting and rotating Turner with thrilling speed to a racing orchestra.

All told a dizzying feat that proves Miss Turner was fully capable of more than holding her own as a dancer, though I daresay most of her admirers would balk at relinquishing her from her throne as the queen of melodrama.